Head for stringed



(No Model.)

B. A. HOOPES. HEAD FOR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS.

No. 596,298. Patented Dec 28,1897.

Mrs S'rarns it nerant @rrrcn,

ERNEST A. HOOPES, OF DES MOINES, lOlVA, ASSIGNOR Oh ONE-HALF TO L. F. MARKS, OF CEDAR RAPIDS, IOlVA.

AD lNSTF-ihliillliilTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 596,298, dated December 28, 1897'.

Application filed March 26, 1897. Serial No. (SZQAQS. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST A. HOOPES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Head for Stringed Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

The objects of this inventiouare to provide a head for stringed instruments in which all of the gearing devices for adjusting the tuning-pins are contained within the body of the head, and hence the beauty of the head is added to,.and, further, to provide mechanism for adjusting the tension of the strings,which mechanism shall be of simple, cheap, strou g, and durable construction and in which any part may be readily and quickly detached.

A further object is to provide a device for adjusting the tension of the strings in instruments of this class whereby the string may be wound upon the pin very quickly until all of the slack of the string has been taken up, and then the string may be drawn tight and tuned to the proper pitch by means of a device that must be turned a great number of revolutions before the tuning-key is turned one revolution, to thereby combine the advantages of a device in which the string may be quickly attached and stretched taut and the advantages of a device for moving the tuning-key very slowly, so that a nicety of adjustment may be attained.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the tension devices with a head of a stringed instrument, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the head of a stringed instrument with the tuning-pins in place therein and also showing by dotted lines the position of one of the gearing devices on the interior of the head. Fig. 2 shows a transverse sectional view through the head to show the position of two of the tuning-pins therein. Fig. 3 shows a perspective view illustrating the three parts constituting one of the tension devices, and Fig. 4 shows a longitudinal sectional view of one of the bushings for the worm-gear.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

-ject below the surface of the head.

the reference-numoral 10 is used to indicate the head of a musical instrument, preferably made of wood and of the ordinary design and size. The head is designed to receive a number of tension devices, each of which is adapted to have a string connected therewith. Inasmuch as each tension device is entirely independent and as all of the tension devices are alike, I shall describe in detail only one of them.

The reference-numeral 11 is used to indicate the tuning-pin proper, and is provided with an opening 12 at its upper end through which the string may be passed, and on its lower end is a cylindrical-shaped device 13, having an annular concave groove 14 on its periphery, said groove being screw-threaded. he lower end portion of the cylinder 13 is milled or knurled at 15, for purposes hereinafter made clear.

The reference-numeral 10 is used to indioate a tube having a large internal bore 17 extending from its one end to a point near its larger end and a small concentric bore 18 extending from the end of the bore 17 to the opposite end of the tube 16. At one side of the said tube is an opening 19.

The reference-numeral 20 is used to indicate a worm of a size to mesh with the screwthreads in the annular concave groove 14.. On one end of the worm 20 is a bearing 2 designed to enter the bore 18 of the tube 16, and at the other end of the worm is a head 22, having a milled edge, and at 23 is a cylindrical extension designed to engage the interior of the opening 17 of the tube 16 and of greater diameter than the threads of the worm 20.

The head is prepared for the reception of these parts by first boring an opening toextend upwardly from its bottom and of a size to admit the cylinder 13 and of such a length that part of the milled periphery 15 will pro- At 2st the lower end of the said opening is reamed out, so that a persons fingers may be admitted therein to grasp and turn the cylinder 13. A smaller opening is then extended upwardly through the head from the center of the aforesaid opening to admit the pin 11. An opening is then bored in the edge of the head at right angles to the aforesaid opening and arranged tangentially with the opening into which the cylinder 13 is placed. The tube 16 is then permanently fixed in the said opening, with the opening 19 therein placed at the side adjacent to the annular screw-threaded groove of the cylinder. This tube serves as a bushing in which the worm 20 may turn.

The head is adapted for the reception of the tension devices by first boring the two holes through the head and then driving the bushing device 16 in position. This practically finishes the construction of the head proper, because the other parts of the tension device are only detachably connected therewith and no screws, bolts, or other fastening devices are employed. The pin 11 is then extended upwardly through the opening in the head prepared for it, and the string is passed through the eye in its top. The operator may then grasp the milled lower end thereof and rapidly turn the pin to wind the string thereupon. When the string has become wound up, but not stretched, the worm is forced through the bushing, and as the teeth thereon engage the screw threaded groove the pin 11 will be turned just part of a revolution and the worm will be secured to its seat. A rotation of the worm will obviously wind up the string upon the pin 11, and the string may be easily adjusted to any de sired tension and the finest gradations of tone or pitch of the string provided. When it is desired to unwind the string to remove it from the pin, the operator grasps the milled edge 15 of the pin, and by turning it forces the worm outwardly in its bushing until it is disengaged from the screw-threaded groove. Hence it is not necessary to manipulate the worm 20 when it is desired to remove the string from the pin. In short, the string may be wound or unwound upon the pin 13 very rapidly and quickly by moving the pin itself, and the worm 20 need only be used when a nicety of adjustment is desired.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States therefor, is

1. The combination with the head of a stringed musical instrument, of a string-pin to extend upwardly through an opening in the head to be capable of a rotary movement therein, and having at its upper end an opening through which a string may be passed, and also having on its lower end an enlarged head in which is an annular groove having gear-teeth therein, and an extension on the lower end of the string-pin to project below the head, and a worm-rod rotatably mounted in the head in a horizontal opening that intersects the opening in which the string-pin is inserted, said worm-rod having formed thereon a worm-gear designed to enter the annular groove in the string-pin and engage the gear-teeth thereon to thereby lock the string-pin against vertical movement, and havinga head on its outer end that may be conveniently grasped and operated, substantially as and for the purposes stated.

2. A. tuning device for stringed instruments, comprising in combination a pin having an eye at its top through which a string maybe passed, a cylindrical enlargement at its lower end having a screw-threaded concave groove thereon, and a milled surface below the groove, a head having an opening in which the said key may be rotatably mounted with the milled portion thereof projecting below the surface of the head, and the upper end of the pin projecting above the top surface of the head, and also having an opening extended tangentially from the screw-threaded groove of the pin, a bushing device in said latter opening having a bearing at one end and an opening in its side, and a worm designed to mesh with the screwthreaded groove, and having a journal at one end to enter the bearing in the bushing, an enlarged portion at the other end of the screw to engage the interior of the bushing, and an enlarged head whereby the worm may be turned, all arranged and combined substantially in the manner set forth and for the purposes stated.

ERNEST A. IIOOPES.

Witnesses:

J. RALPH Onwio, EDWARD A. Snvnn. 

